The Zeroing Negotiations: Brazil's Reaction to the Draft Texts

[Brazilian Foreign Ministry trade chief Roberto Azevedo] also slammed a new proposal released last week by the WTO's leading rules negotiator, Guillermo Valles Galmez of Uruguay. He said his silence until Tuesday was "one of the symptoms of shock."

A number of officials have privately expressed surprise that the proposal allows Washington to continue with a controversial method for calculating fees to penalize other countries for "dumping" imports into the U.S.

The WTO has chided the U.S. in disputes with the 27-nation EU, Canada, Japan and others for the process known in trade jargon as "zeroing," which panels have consistently ruled leads to artificial and inflated margins of dumping, and thus higher duties.

"It is a major step backwards for world trade," Azevedo said.

I'm not sure if there's room for compromise on this issue, but clearly a suggestion to prohibit zeroing for only one type of comparison in only one type of anti-dumping proceeding, and permit it in all the rest, is rubbing some Members the wrong way.

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[Brazilian Foreign Ministry trade chief Roberto Azevedo] also slammed a new proposal released last week by the WTO's leading rules negotiator, Guillermo Valles Galmez of Uruguay. He said his silence until Tuesday was "one of the symptoms of shock."

A number of officials have privately expressed surprise that the proposal allows Washington to continue with a controversial method for calculating fees to penalize other countries for "dumping" imports into the U.S.

The WTO has chided the U.S. in disputes with the 27-nation EU, Canada, Japan and others for the process known in trade jargon as "zeroing," which panels have consistently ruled leads to artificial and inflated margins of dumping, and thus higher duties.

"It is a major step backwards for world trade," Azevedo said.

I'm not sure if there's room for compromise on this issue, but clearly a suggestion to prohibit zeroing for only one type of comparison in only one type of anti-dumping proceeding, and permit it in all the rest, is rubbing some Members the wrong way.